R RH
APRIL 2016
RAPID RE-HOUSING
fact sheet: Housing First
What is Housing First?
Housing First is a homeless assistance approach
that prioritizes providing permanent housing to
people experiencing homelessness, thus ending
their homelessness and serving as a platform
from which they can pursue personal goals
and improve their quality of life. This approach
is guided by the belief that people need basic
necessities like food and a place to live before
attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to
substance use issues. Additionally, Housing First
is based on the theory that client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service
participation, and that exercising that choice is
likely to make a client more successful in remaining housed and improving their life.i
How is Housing First different
from other approaches?
Housing First does not require people experiencing homelessness to address the all of their
problems including behavioral health problems,
or to graduate through a series of services programs before they can access housing. Housing
First does not mandate participation in services
either before obtaining housing or in order to
retain housing. The Housing First approach views
housing as the foundation for life improvement
and enables access to permanent housing without
prerequisites or conditions beyond those of a typical renter. Supportive services are offered to support people with housing stability and individual
well-being, but participation is not required as services have been found to be more effective when
a person chooses to engage.ii Other approaches
do make such requirements in order for a person
to obtain and retain housing.
Who can be helped by Housing First?
A Housing First approach can benefit both
homeless families and individuals with any degree of service needs. The flexible and responsive
nature of a Housing First approach allows it to
be tailored to help anyone. As such, a Housing
First approach can be applied to help end homelessness for a household who became homeless
due to a temporary personal or financial crisis
and has limited service needs, only needing help
accessing and securing permanent housing. At
the same time, Housing First has been found
to be particularly effective approach to end
homelessness for high need populations, such as
chronically homeless individuals.iii
What are the elements of a housing
first program?
Housing First programs often provide rental assistance that varies in duration depending on the
household’s needs. Consumers sign a standard
lease and are able to access supports as necessary to help them do so. A variety of voluntary
services may be used to promote housing stability and well-being during and following housing
placement.
Two common program models follow the Housing First approach but differ in implementation.
Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is targeted
to individuals and families with chronic illnesses,
disabilities, mental health issues, or substance
use disorders who have experienced long-term
or repeated homelessness. It provides longterm
rental assistance and supportive services.
A second program model, rapid re-housing, is
employed for a wide variety of individuals and
Fact Sheet: Housing First
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families. It provides short-term rental assistance and
services. The goals are to help people obtain housing
quickly, increase self-sufficiency, and remain housed.
The Core Components of rapid re-housing—housing
identification, rent and move-in assistance, and case
management and services—operationalize Housing
First principals.
Does Housing First work?
There is a large and growing evidence base demonstrating that Housing First is an effective solution to
homelessness. Consumers in a Housing First model
access housing fasteriv and are more likely to remain
stably housed.v This is true for both PSH and rapid
re-housing programs. PSH has a long-term housing
retention rate of up to 98 percent.vi Studies have
shown that rapid re-housing helps people exit homelessness quickly—in one study, an average of two
monthsvii—and remain housed. A variety of studies
have shown that between 75 percent and 91 percent
of households remain housed a year after being rapidly re-housed.viii
participate in job training programs, attend school,
discontinue substance use, have fewer instances of
domestic violence,x and spend fewer days hospitalized than those not participating.xi
Finally, permanent supportive housing has been
found to be cost efficient. Providing access to housing generally results in cost savings for communities
because housed people are less likely to use emergency services, including hospitals, jails, and emergency shelter, than those who are homeless. One
study found an average cost savings on emergency
services of $31,545 per person housed in a Housing
First program over the course of two years.xii Another study showed that a Housing First program could
cost up to $23,000 less per consumer per year than
a shelter program.xiii
More extensive studies have been completed on PSH
finding that clients report an increase in perceived
levels of autonomy, choice, and control in Housing
First programs. A majority of clients are found to
participate in the optional supportive services provided,ix often resulting in greater housing stability.
Clients using supportive services are more likely to
Tsemberis, S. & Eisenberg, R. Pathways to Housing: Supported Housing for Street-Dwelling Homeless Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities. 2000.
ii
Einbinder, S. & Tull, T. The Housing First Program for Homeless Families: Empirical Evidence of Long-term Efficacy to End and Prevent
Family Homelessness. 2007.
iii
Gulcur, L., Stefancic, A., Shinn, M., Tsemberis, S., & Fishcer, S. Housing, Hospitalization, and Cost Outcomes for Homeless Individuals
with Psychiatric Disabilities Participating in Continuum of Care and Housing First Programmes. 2003.
iv
Gulcur, L., Stefancic, A., Shinn, M., Tsemberis, S., & Fishcer, S. Housing, Hospitalization, and Cost Outcomes for Homeless Individuals
with Psychiatric Disabilities Participating in Continuum of Care and Housing First programs. 2003.
vTsemberis, S. & Eisenberg, R. Pathways to Housing: Supported Housing for Street-Dwelling Homeless Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities. 2000.
vi
Montgomery, A.E., Hill, L., Kane, V., & Culhane, D. Housing Chronically Homeless Veterans: Evaluating the Efficacy of a Housing First
Approach to HUD-VASH. 2013.
vii
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Family Options Study: Short-Term Impacts. 2015.
viii
Byrne, T., Treglia, D., Culhane, D., Kuhn, J., & Kane, V. Predictors of Homelessness Among Families and Single Adults After Exit from
Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs: Evidence from the Department of Veterans Affairs Supportive Services for
Veterans Program. 2015.
ix
Tsemberis, S., Gulcur, L., & Nakae, M. Housing First, Consumer Choice, and Harm Reduction for Homeless Individuals with a Dual Diagnosis. 2004.
x
Einbinder, S. & Tull, T. The Housing First Program for Homeless Families: Empirical Evidence of Long-term Efficacy to End and Prevent
Family Homelessness. 2007.
xi
Gulcur, L., Stefancic, A., Shinn, M., Tsemberis, S., & Fishcer, S. Housing, Hospitalization, and Cost Outcomes for Homeless Individuals
with Psychiatric Disabilities Participating in Continuum of Care and Housing First programs. 2003.
xii
Perlman, J. & Parvensky, J. Denver Housing First Collaborative: Cost Benefit Analysis and Program Outcomes Report. 2006.
xiii
Tsemberis, S. & Stefancic, A. Housing First for Long-Term Shelter Dwellers with Psychiatric Disabilities in a Suburban County: A FourYear Study of Housing Access and Retention. 2007.
i
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Fact Sheet: Housing First